Dignity Health continues to bring new medical providers to St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, months after doctors first raised concerns about what those changes could mean for patients.

In a Monday, Aug. 19, memo from St. Mary President Carolyn Caldwell to staff, doctors and volunteers, she announced that the hospital would end its longtime relationship with St. Mary Radiology Group and instead contract with Renaissance Imaging Medical Associates, based in Northridge.

The change goes into effect Oct. 1 according to the memo, which was obtained by the Southern California News Group.

According to its website, RIMA has 31 locations, most of which are in Southern California.

“As one of the fastest growing radiology groups in the country, RIMA attracts and retains an extraordinary complement of talented multi-specialty radiologists, which has allowed the company to grow and thrive,” Caldwell wrote in her memo. “RIMA will be working closely with the St. Mary Radiology Group to engage the current radiology providers interested in joining RIMA.”

Representatives for Dignity Health and a spokeswoman for St. Mary Radiology Group declined to comment.

RIMA’s CEO Andrew Deutsch acknowledged his company would take over radiology services at St. Mary’s but was not available for further comment.

The news comes three months after Dignity Health, which operates St. Mary’s, announced a similar decision to end its longstanding relationship with Long Beach Anesthesiology in favor of a new contract with Somnia Anesthesiology, based in New York. That contract goes into effect Sunday, Sept. 1.

Doctors predicted these changes – specifically that Dignity Health would end its contracts with St. Mary’s anesthesiology and radiology providers – in February. They said they believed the changes would be retaliatory measures because doctors in both departments had been publicly critical of Dignity Health.

In response, Caldwell said appropriate adjustments would be made as part of a regular review process. She denied that any decisions would be motivated by retaliation.

When physicians learned of the coming change in anesthesia providers, the hospital’s Chief of Staff Douglas McFarland wrote in his own memo the switch could result in “unqualified or problem anesthesiologists” working at St. Mary’s.

The contract turnover comes as Dignity Health adjusts to its new status as part of a $29 billion healthcare giant; the corporation merged with Catholic Health Initiatives in February to form CommonSpirit Health.

It’s unclear what impact the hospital’s new contract with RIMA will have on staffing.

When doctors expressed their concerns about the forthcoming changes earlier this year, they said they believed St. Mary’s was seeking to effectively lay off its medical staff by bringing in new teams.

Laura Herrera, the vice president of marketing for the new provider, Somnia Anesthesiology, said in a May statement that “100% of the current Long Beach anesthesiologists have executed offer letters stating their intent to continue employment at St. Mary’s with Somnia.”

Laura Russell, the lead doctor for St. Mary’s longtime provider Long Beach Anesthesia, said she would stay on board with Somnia.

Russell said at the time that she wasn’t sure why Dignity Health chose to end her group’s contract – or what the consequences of that decision would be.

“We have no idea how Somnia will work for us going forward,” she said. “Until we start working for them in September, we’re going to have no idea how much better it is or worse it is for” patients.

It seems the same will be true of the hospital’s new contract with RIMA.

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Hayley Munguia covers Long Beach City Hall for the Southern California News Group. She previously worked as a data reporter for FiveThirtyEight and has written for The Week, the Jerusalem Post and the Austin American-Statesman, among other publications. She's originally from Austin, graduated from NYU and will pet a dog any chance she gets.

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